A Flutter of Hope
by Talesoftwofairies
Summary: A future dystopian fic, Natsu and Lucy struggle to survive. But Natsu reminds Lucy that they are more than just surviving.


Waves of heat reverberated through the air distorting the vast grasslands.

Everything was burning, which was strange because only two days ago a massive thunderstorm had passed through their farm, desecrating their harvest. All that was left was the mangled stems and leaves of their once healthy plants.

Lucy lifted her arm and wiped the thick band of sweat across her brow.

Breathing in the thick moist air, she turned to where Wendy was standing, shaking from exhaustion.

Lucy walked over and gently took the shovel from her hands.

"Thats enough for now. Let's wait till the sun gets lower on the horizon, yeah?"

Wendy gave her a weak smile and a nod.

Lucy went and picked up her water canteen. She lifted it but only a few drops slid out onto her parched lips. She frowned. That was her last of her water rations for today.

She sighed and turned to Wendy. She watched as Wendy swirled her canteen staring at it dreary. Lucy's heart clenched. She would have to steal a little more water for Wendy later.

"Come on, let's head out."

Together they hiked through the destroyed field, crunching over the dried out leaves of their alleged food source, and back to their group's community structure.

Their community was nothing more than bland white structures. From their position in the field Lucy could see the glint from the solar panels on top. A small river flowed about a mile away but even with the recent rain and storm it wasn't much for both drinking and bathing plus agricultural use.

"Do you think we will be able to grow enough food before our storage runs out?" Wendy asked.

Lucy brows shot up at the question, but she quickly covered it with a smile. "Of course! We're Fairy Tail! We'll be fine, we have plenty to trade anyway and our storage isn't low."

Wendy looked up at her. "But I heard Erza say they had to throw out half of it because it got moldy."

Lucy bent down in front of her, looking her dead in the eye.

"Wendy, no matter what we are going to be okay. We have plenty of valuable items we can trade and we are going to get more corn from Lamia Scale since our chickens laid so many eggs this month. So don't you worry, alright? Let us adults handle it."

Wendy gave her a half hearted smile before looking away. "But you're a kid too, Lucy."

Lucy's heart clenched but she pushed her emotions aside."Technically I'm eighteen, which means I am an adult."

Wendy looked about as unconvinced as Lucy felt, but Lucy gave her an encouraging smile before straightening and turning to head home.

But Lucy couldn't keep the frown off her face for very long.

—-

Stars were blinking down at Lucy as she stared out of her window. She took a deep breath. The air was still heavy from the storm, but at least it was cooler now. She looked back at her book and gently brushed her hand over the picture on the page.

Suddenly, she felt the bed shift behind her before strong arms encircled her waist and a head full of pink hair snuggle into her neck.

Chuckling quietly, she reached up and pet his head.

She felt his satisfied hum vibrate her neck.

"How was your day?" She asked.

"Hot." was his mumbled reply. "Yours?"

"Hot."

He hummed again in acknowledgment as Lucy turned the page to her book.

"What's that?" He mumbled, referring to the picture on the page.

Lucy smiled softly at his question. "They're called butterflies. They used to be abundant and came in a variety of colors. This one's called a Monarch." Lucy's smile faded and she snapped the book closed. "But they're extinct now, like all the other creatures."

There was an awkward pause at her sudden outburst where Natsu tensed up beside her. Lucy sighed.

"It must have been wonderful."

Natsu leaned back from her to look at her face. "What?"

"Living back then. The world's so dreary and bland now. Butterflies used to be everywhere but people back then didn't appreciate them. They left us a life where we barely survive from day to day." Tears were pooling in her eyes, she was so frustrated. Frustrated at the fragile life they were forced to lead, where all it would take was one mishap, one extra day of drought or one disease, one thing to go wrong and their whole lifestyle would unravel. She was so scared. And she was tired. Tired of the worrying and the ever present stress that weighed her down and pressed on her lungs until she was gasping for breath. She started shaking but she couldn't stop, her thoughts kept whirling around, pulling her further and further into an abyss. She thought of Wendy and the worry lines which were wrinkling her suppose to be youthful face. She thought of Natsu and of how despite how much she loved him, she didn't want kids in the future, not when they would simply suffer the same existence she and Wendy and everyone else had to deal with. She couldn't bring a child into a world such as this one.

The past took more than it knew.

She could feel her tears running down her cheeks as Natsu gripped her tighter. "Hey." Natsu gently started to rub her back. "We're surviving."

She felt all her anxieties snap. Her fists clenched. She yelled. "But we're not living, Natsu! Wendy is only 12 and her main concern is about having enough food. She's just a kid. She should be playing and learning, not forced to work on a dead field, unsure where her next meal is going to come from."

She took a deep breath, looking over Natsu's concerned face. "I'm just tired, Natsu. So very tired."

Natsu looked away from her and scrunched up his face. They sat in silence for awhile before he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She soon lost herself in their kiss until Natsu untangled himself from her.

"That was living."

"What?"

He stared deeply in her eyes, with a fire burning in his. "We might be barely surviving in some aspects, but we have each other. We have laughter and love. Remember Gray's birthday party? When we dumped him in the river?"

Lucy smiled. "I think that was just you and Gajeel."

"But it was a fun day, right? It's the people and those moments of happiness that prove we are more than just surviving."

Lucy's eyes were shining again as she wrapped him in a hug, relishing in his warmth.

"When did you get so philosophical?" She mumbled in his shoulder.

"Think you're rubbing off on me. Besides, I hate to see you sad."

Lucy clutched him closer, her mind slowly calming down, before lying down and falling asleep in his arms.

—

The years passed and it seemed like in a blink of an eye Lucy was suddenly 23. She still had Natsu to bring her back from the edge of her anxiety but he could only do so much. The scientists claimed the worst of climate change effects had past since humanity had stopped using fossil fuels for almost 65 years now, but every year was still the same. The winter and spring would be months of unforgiving rain while the summer and fall brought nothing but heat and despair. It didn't help that none of the livestock or chickens lived very long. They were far too malnourished to be the once plump creatures Lucy had seen in pictures.

Maybe she shouldn't have read so much, she thought to herself one day. Maybe if she didn't read about how the Earth once was, rich of organisms all different types,shapes, and color, or how green and vibrant the plant life used to be, she would have been much more content with the dull colors and unhealthy animals that were her reality.

She kicked at the hard yellow dirt as she walked to feed the chickens. There were only five of them for the whole community but they were the most precious resources they owned, after water.

She opened the coup and poured the feed into their food container when she heard the fast crunching of boots behind her.

She was about to turn around only to be pulled up and spun around till she was face to face with Natsu.

He was bouncing up and down, excitement pouring out of him.

"Lucy, I found something and you have to see, but we have to go now before its gone!"

He started to pull her but she wrenched free from his grasp and turned back to her job.

"Natsu, we can't just run away from our responsibilities. We have a job to do, we can do whatever you want after."

He grabbed her arm again and started yanking her away. "Natsu!"

He stopped and looked at her pleadingly. "Look, I don't know how long it will be there and you have to see it. If you don't come willingly I will kidnap you."

Lucy knew he wasn't kidding; she had been kidnapped by him plenty of times in the past. She peered around the fields of the housing complex, but no one was around. They must be off doing other miscellaneous jobs.

She rolled her eyes. His childish wonder was one of the reasons she loved him and she felt herself caving into his demands. "Fine Natsu, but we have to hur-"

He grabbed her and together raced off in the direction of the mountains.

As they were climbing through the rocky terrain avoiding tree roots, Natsu started to explain.

"So I was out here hiking just looking around, you know? Looking for anything to help. A new source of water or a rabbit or something."

He grunted as he tripped over a rock.

"Anyway, I kept climbing and eventually ended up in this valley thing, when I saw it!... We're almost there. Where those massive eucalyptus trees are." He stopped as they reached a peak of the mountain and pointed to the spot. Lucy stopped to catch her breath and looked down over the valley. It was small slope down covered in brown bushes but she saw the trees. They were massive. She could hear their thunder-like rustle of their leaves and branches from the wind where she stood.

Natsu grinned madly at her. "You are going to love this!"

"You're not dragging me out here to murder me right?"

"No you idiot! Come on!"

They reached the tree line in no time.

Natsu grabbed her hand and lead her into the tall trees. He turned toward her and put his index finger to his mouth in a be quiet gesture. He quietly lead her over to one of the trees and pointed.

Lucy looked over and sitting on the trunk was a skinny orange and black thing. She frowned as she analyzed it for a moment, before her eyes widen and she turned to look at Natsu, who was smiling widely.

"Its a butterfly" She gasped "…You found a butterfly!"

Natsu grinned madly at her. "Not just one. Look up."

Lucy slowly craned her neck back. Randomly interspersed along the tree trunks were about 20 orange and black fluttering wings. She watched in awe as few a them took flight above her head, shadowing out a small part of the sun's rays. They were more breathtaking than she could believe.

She gasped at the sight and reached out for Natsu's hand. He obliged and curled his hand around hers, squeezing lightly.

She could feel the tears running down her cheeks as she slowly started bouncing up and down before tackling Natsu with a kiss. As she kissed him, all of her worry for the future started to melt away, and instead a fiery hope built up within her.

She pulled away to laugh at the sight before her, of the beautiful butterflies, of a hopeful future.

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading you guys! Hope you liked it! Basically thought this up in my Environmental Class because we talking about how butterflies will be one of the species will go extinct first from the change in climate. I also just want to point out that I did not accurately portray necessarily how climate change will affect weather, but this is a serious issue which needs to be addressed while we can still stop the more damaging effects. If you would like some more info go to this website** **/images/report/WG1AR5_SPM_** **or message us! Thanks again. Please Review!**


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